Happy Chinese New Year to all friends and readers! I have tossed yee sang 10 times this year already, and I’m not complaining as I’m a yee sang addict. My makan kaki, Ecstatic Eeyore, and I have a ritual of going to Woo Lan every year and ordering a plate of yee sang and a noodle dish for two. It seems rather pathetic when two people toss yee sang gaily, chanting all kinds of unachievables, but we don’t really care as we immerse ourselves in tradition.

One of the first sessions I attended together with the other bloggers was a food review at Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant. Zuan Yuan is ideal if you’re looking for a halal alternative. While at first, we moaned and groaned about missing the lard, we eventually came to the realisation that a perfectly good meal could emerge from a halal Chinese restaurant without that glorified hog. We scoffed at the idea of lap mei fan without the typical waxed meats made of pork, but when we tried Zuan Yuan’s version of lap mei fan with the clever replacing of pork with turkey and chicken, we knew that we could finally share this much revered dish with our Muslim friends.

The roast duck is a specialty at Zuan Yuan, and I understood why. The meat was tender, the skin was crispy and the spicy chilli sauce was a good complement to the dish. I also liked the fried tiger prawns. The prawns, which were extremely fresh, were coated in a dry sauce made with dried shrimps, chilli and garlic – perfect for those who prefer bolder flavours.

Nian gao, a sweetish sticky confection made from glutinous rice, is popularly eaten during Chinese New Year although it is available all year round. At Zuan Yuan, the nian gao is home made and is served with a twist – it is paired with an avocado custard, then coated and deep fried in a kataifi phyllo dough.

Chinese New Year set meals are available at Zuan Yuan till the 20th of February. This year, Chef Michael Chew has prepared 4 varieties of yee sang with different accompaniments ranging from the more common seaweed and salmon to exotic ingredients like chuka hotate and sliced abalone. The set menus at Zuan Yuan are available at prices ranging from RM988++ to RM1,388++ per table of 10.

Zuan Yuan will remain open throughout the fifteen days of the Lunar New Year.

Tuan Yuan at Zuan Yuan? Maybe not with family here, but with friends and fellow bloggers, who must be some kinda wonderful family too, aye?

It’s the Bunny Year, my friend. May you find your steps light and hoppity as this wascally wabbit, and may your life leap forward in great strides. Let this Horsey friend of yours gallop along the path your journey takes and accompany you, my dear.

Happy Chinese New Year to you and Bald Eagle and your dearest and most beloved. May many blessings come your way.

Ooh that waxed meat rice definitely looks like it could pass off for a porky version. I’m trying to remember the right names though … I think ‘lap mei fan’ is the one with regular steamed rice, but I can’t recall what’s the name of the type with the sticky glutinous brown rice … Somebody help!

LFB: Thanks for your sweet wishes. Always good fun horsing around with the horsey friend! Love, The Lyrical Monkey.

Sean: It’s generally not easy to tell the kind of meat that goes into sausages, so it’s easy enough to use turkey, spice it up, and use it as a substitute for pork. A friend of a friend sells halal gourmet sausages here, and apparently, the chicken sausages are made such that they taste just like pork sausages. I think you’re talking about lor mai fan?

Hazza: Wow, hazza! That’s a long time to go without yee sang! I suppose you can make a close substitute at home, although it’s pretty hard work slicing and julienning all the vegetables! Happy CNY!